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3 ABY

For the following days, Kal was unable to leave the med-center. She hated every minute of it. She hated being alone. She hated having nothing to do. She hated the bright sterile room. She liked being useful and busy. She liked not being broken. The only thing that made it even relatively worthwhile was all of her friends visiting her whenever they got the chance and she could practice using the Force without potentially freaking anyone out.

Well, until Luke and Han went missing.

Wedge and Hobbie were the ones who informed her. They told her Luke had gone to check out a meteorite that hit the planet while he was on patrol with Han but never checked back in, so Han went back out to find him. They hadn't come back yet. And the doors were about to be shut.

Kal tried to get out of bed, ignoring the pain coursing through her limbs, but Hobbie and Wedge immediately pushed her back down, albeit gently.

"You're not going out there," Wedge said, not playing around.

"The hell I am!" Kal exclaimed. "Get out of my way."

"You're still healing. You'll just get yourself killed," Hobbie said, invading her personal space to make sure she couldn't get up without going through him. "There's nothing we can do for them right now."

She looked back and forth between them. "Please move."

"No," they chorused together, their faces stoic and bodies unmoving.

"I swear, I will make you two move if you don't do it of your own volition."

Hobbie sighed. "Kal, I know you're in love with the guy, but don't get yourself killed because of your overwhelming need to save him."

Her features pinched and her head tilted to the side. "I don't love Han. What are you blabbering on about?"

Both Hobbie and Wedge groaned in exasperation. They couldn't believe her sometimes. For all intents and purposes, Kal was infinitely more observant than the two of them, they knew, but when it came to her affection for the one and only Luke Skywalker, she remained completely oblivious and in the dark. So much so that she thought they meant Han before she thought they meant Luke. It was ridiculous.

Wedge pinched the bridge of his nose while Hobbie rubbed his face. "Kaleena, whatever your middle name is, Aput, you are the most difficult woman I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know," Wedge complained. "The entire galaxy knows you are in love with Luke and that he is in love with you in return. But regardless of how you two feel, you cannot go out into the frozen wasteland that is Hoth, at night with nothing but some clothes on your back and a Tauntaun that would likely freeze to death before making any real progress. Rogue Group is going out first thing in the morning to search with our scanners, but until then, there is nothing anyone can reasonably do other than hope they are able to find shelter and wait out the night."

Kal slumped down with a huff. "I hate when you're right."

"Ha!" Hobbie blurted out, pointing at her and beaming from ear to ear. "I knew you loved him!"

"What? No, that's not what I-" Kal tried to say but cut herself off as Wedge began smiling as well. "I hate you both." She leaned back on the big fluffy pillow and let out an over-exaggerated sigh. "If only that explosion had killed me."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Wedge said. "Now you just have to tell him."

"I'm not-oh, forget it."

The two men refused to leave her side until the following morning when they had to go search for their missing rebel friends. Kal was relieved to have people finally going out and searching for Luke and Han, but she wished it was her going out to look. But no, she had to stay in her med-center room and get a fresh set of synthskin and patches on her burns that were looking a lot better than they had been in days previous.

During the session of the medical droid changing out the synthskin and bacta patches, Wedge walked in. Kal looked up at him. "It better be good news."

Wedge grinned. "We found them. Luke's a little worse for wear, but he's in a tank right now. You can probably see him once he's out, which should be pretty soon. Han is completely fine."

Kal sighed in relief at the news. "That's good. I'm glad they were found before anything irreversible could happen." She turned to the medical droid who was laying down a new bacta patch on her leg. "When can I start walking around?"

"When I am done switching out the coverings, you may walk around the medical center with aid," the droid replied.

Kal looked back up at Wedge with a sly grin. "You hear that, Antilles? I'm almost a free woman."

"It specifically said 'around the medical center'," Wedge pointed out. "Not free just yet, hunter." She playfully stuck out her tongue which made him laugh.

The droid continued changing the various patches covering her legs, arms, and torso. Some of the patches were completely taken off as the skin was almost completely healed in some areas. Kal hadn't stood up in days. Her ass was hurting and her limbs were sore from lack of movement. She needed to get up. She needed to put on something other than temporary clothing.

And she needed to see Luke. The thought of him hurt was killing her, eating her from the inside out. If she hadn't been injured, she could've done something. Maybe she could've found him sooner by reaching out through the Force to feel him out. It would've worked far better than the measly scanners the patrol units use. She should've been with him the moment he was found, not stuck with bed rest. She should have been doing anything, literally anything. As long as she was with him.

The moment the droid was done, Wedge helped Kal off the bed, steadying her as her legs wobbled beneath her. "Easy there, hunter," Wedge muttered as Kal leaned heavily on him. "It might take a little bit to get your land legs again."

"Can't wait," Kal replied, deadpan. She lifted her left leg slowly, bringing it as high as she could to stretch out her hamstring and then did the other leg. She hated feeling weak but stretching them felt nice. Kal allowed the Force to imbue her with strength or to at least lessen the shakiness. She rolled her ankles gently and tested her weight while letting go of Wedge. "I-I think I'm good."

"You sure?" Kal raised an eyebrow at him. He sighed. "Please don't say it's the Force."

Kal shrugged. "Then I won't say it. I'm gonna go see Luke."

"Yeah, you do that. Give him a nice, big, 'get well soon' kiss."

Kal rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth while she left the room, choosing to ignore him rather than indulge him. She had someone to go see. Half her focus was on finding Luke's room while the other half was set on using the Force to keep her upright and moving, giving her the energy and strength to find who she needed to see.

As she turned a corner, a smaller body walked into her. Kal steadied herself and recognized Leia but didn't get to say anything because Leia harshly apologized before continuing to stalk down the hall and out of the medical center. Kal scrunched up her eyebrows, confused at the shorter girl's actions but shook it off and continued down to Luke's room a short distance away.

The door slid open and Kal walked in, spotted Han, Chewie, and the droids surrounding Luke, and asked, "Han, what did you say to Leia this time? She looked pissed just a second ago." Kal gestured with her thumb, pointing at the door which slid shut behind her. Luke's smug expression shifted to guilt while Han's anger and annoyance turned into the smugness Luke had lost. Luke's hands dropped from behind his head to his sides, looking at Kal as the intercom called headquarters personnel to the Command Center.

Han turned back to Luke and said, "Take it easy."

"Excuse us, please," Threepio added. Han, Chewie, and C-3PO hurried out of the room, each nodding at the mildly confused Kal when they passed her. Artoo whistled a 'good-bye' but didn't follow.

The door slid shut once again and Kal looked at Luke with an eyebrow raised. "What was that about?" she asked, inching closer to the former farmboy who laid on the bed. He wasn't allowed the chance to reply once she spotted the scars on the right side of his face. Reaching out and rushing closer, he blushed as her hand turned his head so she could see his injuries. "Oh, what happened?" Her index finger lightly brushed over the lower scar right below his cheekbone or what was left of it, at least. "I'm assuming the bacta's worked pretty well."

Luke gave her a shy, awkward smile. "Yeah, it was worse. A wampa knocked me from my Tauntaun and dragged us to its cave." Through the Force, she could sense his former pain and his current discomfort, embarrassment, and guilt.

Frowning, Kal sat down by his knees and moved her hand from his face to his hand. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

While Luke's face and words said one thing, the Force said another. Kal didn't believe him. But she didn't call him out on it. Everything was alright to him, but not in the way she meant. "Well, you were kinda stranded outside in a frozen wasteland. I'm definitely going to ask if you're doing alright." Her smile was small, tentative. "I wanted to go out and look, too, but Hobbie and Wedge wouldn't let me."

"And with good reason." Luke didn't look amused. "You're not cleared to leave the med-center just yet."

"You just couldn't help but get stuck in here with me, huh?" she teased playfully.

"I would gladly be stuck with you anywhere." The red dancing across her cheeks was a new sight to behold. It was the first time he had ever seen her blush. His heart skipped a beat knowing she was blushing because of something he said. And she hadn't lost her smile. Leia had just kissed him in front of Han, but Luke didn't feel anything but smugness because of the irritation Han had felt. Kal, on the other hand, could make him feel giddy and breathless with nothing but a smile or a few words. He didn't understand how she could have such an effect on him.

She would be lying if she said she didn't like hearing it. I would gladly be stuck with you anywhere. She would also be lying if she said Wedge and Hobbie's teasing had no ring of truth. Kal kind of wished she had Sabine or Hera to talk to. Talking to Leia about feelings didn't necessarily seem right. And there was absolutely no way she would willingly talk to Wedge, Han, or Hobbie about it.

"Do you know when you'll be out of here?" she asked. "Not that it isn't nice to have company. I'm just sure they'll have plenty of need for their Commander Skywalker." She wanted to say 'my Commander Skywalker.'

Luke chuckled and ducked his head briefly. "Probably tomorrow. They'll likely keep me here overnight for observation. But I hear you'll probably be discharged tomorrow, too."

"I sure as hell hope so." Kal hummed to herself. "Do you still have the crystal I gave you?"

"Yeah, why? I can give it back if you want it," Luke said quickly.

Kal shook her head and waved her hand. "No, no, no. I was just making sure you didn't lose it in a random wampa cave on a shitty ice planet. Kyber crystals are hard to find these days, so I wanted to know if I needed to go digging around in some snow for it." Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "Keep it. I have a feeling you'll need it someday."

"That doesn't sound at all ominous." Kal chuckled at his sarcasm. "But, um, anyway, there's something I need to tell you." It wasn't often that Kal grew worried, but Luke's wording didn't exactly bring joy to her heart. "When I was out in the snow before Han found me, I think Ben was trying to commune with me. I was pretty out of it, but I think he said something about Dagobah and a Jedi Master named Yoda. I think he wanted me to find him."

"Really? That's where Master Yoda is?" Kal asked. "My dad always made Dagobah sound important because the high Force attunement of the planet, not because Master Yoda was there." Of course, he didn't tell me that, she thought cynically.

Luke decided to quickly carry on with the subject so she couldn't dwell on what he knew she was thinking. "What do you know about him?"

"Not much. He's an extremely powerful and old Jedi Master who was responsible for training all of the younglings in their early years after he stopped taking padawans. And I know he sat on the Jedi Council as both Grand Master and Master of the Order by the Clone War started. But that's about it. My dad didn't really like to talk about other Jedi. Can't say I blame him. But if he wants you to find Master Yoda, then he wants you to train with him, and not with me." She hadn't meant it with contempt or discontent, but Luke must've thought she had.

"What? That's not-"

"Then what is it, Luke?" Kal interrupted. "He talks to you. He tells you where Master Yoda is hiding. He let me leave home without much of a fight. He stayed on Tatooine to watch over you. I'm a lost cause. I left Jedi training. I'm not the hope of the galaxy. You are. I'm okay with that. I came to terms with that a while ago. My destiny lies elsewhere. I just don't know what it is yet. I hope it includes you, though."

After a short period of talking, the evacuation code was sent out. Kal and Luke's blood ran cold. "They found us," she said dismally.

"Sounds like it," he replied, watching as Kal stood from her spot next to his knees. Luke then swung his legs over the side and sat up.

"I'm an able body, so I better go help as much as I can."

Luke reached out to grab her arm to stop her before she could leave. "Be careful." Whether he was her commanding officer or not, it was an order. He didn't want to see her hurt again. Kal looked into his pleading eyes, eyes she could get lost in forever like an endless blue sea. She wanted to get lost in them. Her heart was asking her to but her mind said no.

There would be a battle, she knew. She could feel it in the air. She could sense it through the Force. No one ever knew what battle would be their last. It wasn't something you could know for certain, even with Force visions. The future was always changing. Anyone could die at any moment if the right means were in play. And Hoth was about to become a battlefield. With the prospect of a battle and her aching heart, Kal did the unthinkable.

Turning around fully, Kal grabbed Luke's shirt with her fist and slammed her lips against his. It barely lasted a few seconds. Kal practically ran from the room once she pulled away.

She kissed him. She got it off her chest. But she was scared to see his reaction. What had she done? Why did she do that? What was she thinking? Was she even thinking at all? She kissed one of her closest friends. Sure, someone she had come to terms with having actual feelings for, but she kissed him. She actually kissed him. They were about to be caught in a battle and Kal had decided, for whatever reason, to plant one on him.

She hurried back to her room and got dressed, shaking her head every few moments to rid her head of her distracting thoughts and pulling on the armor for her arm and shoulder before slipping on the warm, heavy coat to combat both potential enemies and the cold. Her necklace sat securely on her chest under her clothes, her lightsaber hung from her belt, and her droid clutching her shoulder. Then the medical droid gave her the all-clear to help load transports, albeit with the order of only lifting the lighter loads.

Before long, the Empire was on their doorstep. Kal cheered with the rest of the rebels when the first transport made it off the planet. She bode Wedge and Hobbie 'good luck' before they headed out to fight the Empire in their snow speeders.

Kal made her way to the Falcon to see how Han and Chewie were doing with repairs and ran into, quite literally, the one person she had been scared to see. Catching his helmet before it could fall to the ground, Kal held it awkwardly in her hand, outstretched to him and not making eye contact no matter how much she wanted to gaze into his pretty eyes. She was so focused on her thoughts, she didn't notice the hand resting over her own, not quite taking the helmet.

"Kal, please look at me," Luke's gentle voice said. She could feel his soothing presence close to her and she loved it. Her eyes flitted up, peaking out from underneath her eyelashes. A brief feeling of fear coursed through her, but it drifted away with his words. "I'm one person you don't have to run away from." He reached out and took her other hand in his. "Please tell me it wasn't a 'one of us is about to die' kiss?"

"It wasn't, well, sort of. I. . . I wanted to. For a while now."

Luke didn't know what shocked him more: Kal telling him she wanted to kiss him regardless of the upcoming battle or the kiss itself. Maybe both. He liked it either way. His stomach was twisted in knots, he felt like he was going to puke, and his heart raced a mile a minute.

He then realized all the hustle and bustle around them was still happening. He had to get to his speeder. They didn't have time to talk. "We need to talk, but like not right now." Kal was about to agree but Luke continued. "Can I kiss you?"

Nodding and smiling, Kal welcomed him leaning forward and planting his lips on her own. It was short and sweet, both attempting to squeeze in everything they wanted to say in a single kiss. Once they pulled away, Kal's hands tightened around his as she said, "For good luck. May the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you." Luke then scurried off, rushing to his speeder to meet up with his gunner, Dak, and take on the Empire to buy as much time as possible for the rebels to evacuate the base.

The pilots in their snow speeders took off to meet the Empire's ground forces with the troops in the trenches while other personnel remained inside to continue loading transports, get on them, and fly away. Kal rushed from place to place, helping haul as much equipment as she could onto transports and evacuating certain areas of the base. Han commed her to tell her to return to the Falcon so they could prepare for take-off if she hadn't left the base yet, but she went the long way once she heard the Command Center had been hit with one transport left to leave the system.

As Kal made her way through one of the tunnels, ignoring the distant thunder of laser fire, a voice rang through the loudspeaker saying, "Imperial troops have entered the base. Imperial troops have-" The voice was cut off and followed by the evacuation code signal. Kal knew he must have been killed by an Imp.

The tunnel then collapsed in front of her and she slid to a stop. She cursed as she turned back around to head towards the hangar with the Falcon in it. Kal ran through the tunnels, thankfully not seeing any other people. It meant they had made it out. Now all she had to do was make it to the Falcon, assuming Han hadn't left yet. But she knew he would leave without her if he had to. Only if he absolutely had to. It was what she would want. She hadn't replied to his comm and she had clearance to leave on one of the other transports. He would likely assume she had made it out on one since comms, past a certain distance, wouldn't work.

Kal skidded to a halt in the middle of the tunnel closest to the main hangar. The feelings of death, despair, agony, and anger filled the Force around her, practically suffocating her senses. She had felt it before. She recognized the signature.

Vader.

Turning her head to Gray, she said, "Stay back and hidden. I don't want you to get hurt." The droid floated away, staying a decent distance away from his owner. Her hand drifted to her lightsaber as she turned the corner to see a group of snowtroopers marching down the hall with Darth Vader in the center.

Darth Vader: Luke's father.

Raising her left hand, Kal sent a large gust of the Force down the hall, it slamming into the troopers and careening them violently backward, but it didn't affect Vader. She didn't think it would, only hoped. Plucking her saber from her belt, she turned it on and got in the opening stance of Vaapad, relishing in the sound of the powered blade. It was potentially the last time she'd hear it as she faced the foreboding Sith Lord in front of her.

Vader followed with his own blood-red blade, holding it down by his side. His stance was more relaxed than she would have liked. "You are not the Jedi I'm looking for," Vader announced, his deep voice clouded with mechanics and loud breathing. How much of him was even still a man?

But he was searching for Luke. That was more important. And there was no way Kal would help Vader. "You won't find him here, Vader," she replied, trying her hardest not to let her voice shake. "Just me." The inkling of fear threatened to take hold of her, but her anger won out. The machine in front of her killed her father and wanted to turn someone she cared about to the Dark Side, if not kill him as well. "He'll be long gone, and you'll continue chasing your tail until the Emperor tells you to stop."

The black mass allowed for the slightest tilt of his head as he studied the young woman. "You care about him. And he cares for you in return." Kal couldn't figure out how he could possibly know that or why it mattered. "Good. Your death will be his first step to joining the Dark Side of the Force."

Kal's lips turned into a snarl. "Luke will never join you, even if you are his father. You already took my father. You won't take Luke, too." Surging forward, Kal swung her lightsaber but Vader blocked it with his own. The power behind his swing shocked her as her saber bounced away, but she swung again. Again and again and again. Each time Vader blocked, parried, or deflected. He didn't attack.

He was toying with her. And she played right into it. He was drawing out her anger and hatred to the point where she no longer controlled them but they controlled her.

Lifting his hand, Vader locked her in place with the Force while Kal was mid-swing. She struggled in place but couldn't move. No matter how often she had sparred with Luke, Kanan, Ahsoka, Ezra, or her dad, Vader was a whole other level. More powerful than any of them had ever shown in sparring sessions. It scared her. She was trapped.

Her body slowly lifted from the frozen ground, helplessly dangling from Vader's Force power. "You are strong with the Force, young one," Vader praised. "And. . . familiar. Why are you familiar?" He wasn't asking her. He was talking to himself. Vader sheathed his lightsaber and hung from his side again before willing her body forward, grabbing her throat with his hand. Her saber fell from her grasp once no longer frozen, powering off as it left her hand. Kal's legs kicked and her hands scratched at his hand, all while he studied her. The woman hanging from his grip looked just as familiar as her Force signature felt. The last time he felt it was on the Death Star. But he had felt it before, in his own arms on Coruscant when he was Anakin Skywalker. "Cattleya."

She barely heard the name of her mother from his mask. His robotic fingers tightened around her throat, cutting off her air supply. Kal tried to kick him and peel his fingers away but nothing worked, dark spots dancing in her eyes. Her eyes drifted to a close and Vader threw her limp body down the hall, ready to leave the forsaken and destroyed rebel base in nothing but ruins and the child of Anakin Skywalker's old friend to freeze in the snow. She was a reminder of his past, of the man he had been, the man he had destroyed.

Anakin had known the baby was Force-sensitive the first time he had seen her. Padmé had been holding baby Kaleena when he stopped by the apartment. Cattleya had, of course, known about their relationship and was supportive. Padmé loved Cattleya's daughter like her own the moment she had died. The senator had gladly taken her in. But Anakin, or rather Vader, had wondered what happened to the baby when Padmé died as well.

But he had just figured it out. She had been taken and trained. By who was the question. Vader had an inkling though. Kenobi. The young woman had said he killed her father. Cattleya had only ever been openly close with one man, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin Skywalker wasn't the only Jedi to fall in love.

Their children had found each other.

Darth Vader left the planet with what was left of his troopers. A good number had been killed or knocked out by the young woman's Force blast, let alone by falling debris or other rebels. They lost Luke Skywalker. They lost the Millennium Falcon. They lost most of the rebel forces. But they still damaged the rebellion.

Tunnels caved in, trapping an unconscious Kal in the rubble of the base.